My four week chicks have lice - EMERGENCY

[Cheekychook12]

So I got some four week old frizzle chicks, which I noticed today, have lice or some other external parasite, I will attach an image
They are eating and drinking normally, today I noticed a bit of blood on the straw which lead to me inspecting them and finding the lice
The lice are on the vents and don’t seem to be anywhere else
They seem to be preening exsessivly
We have reached out to the breeder to ask her about this as we’ve only had them a few days
I plan to throughly clean the pen and replace the straw
But what do I do for the chicks?
Their vents seem a little swollen

 

[SmiYa0126]

@Wyorp Rock @azygous @Eggcessive please help!

 

[Cheekychook12]

This is the bloody poop, are the lice/mites responsible for this or should I treat them for coccidiosis as well
I think these chicks were hatched under a hen so they might have got lice from the hen?

 

[azygous]

Baby chicks can dust bathe. Give them a shallow dish of fine sand or dirt or peat moss mixed with a little wood ash. This may be enough to get rid of the lice which is the purpose of dust bathing. The wood ash will help to discourage the lice.

If this fails, buy some permethrin garden dusting powder and use a little on the chicks. Be careful not to let them breathe it.

 

[Cheekychook12]

Baby chicks can dust bathe. Give them a shallow dish of fine sand or dirt or peat moss mixed with a little wood ash. This may be enough to get rid of the lice which is the purpose of dust bathing. The wood ash will help to discourage the lice.

If this fails, buy some permethrin garden dusting powder and use a little on the chicks. Be careful not to let them breathe it.

I will be giving them a dust bath but the bloody poops have me very concerned

 

[nuthatched]

I will be giving them a dust bath but the bloody poops have me very concerned

Can you get corid?

 

[Cheekychook12]

Can you get corid?

I’m in Australia so I don’t know but I’ll look

 

[Cheekychook12]

I’m in Australia so I don’t know but I’ll look

I can only see it on delivery so I’ll need to find something else
I don’t think these chicks have even been on dirt so I don’t know how they would have coccidiosis

 

[Cheekychook12]

We have something called cocciprol but I assume it is similar

 

[azygous]

Are the chicks poops watery? Are the chicks lethargic? Loss of appetite?

Was the blood mixed in the poop or was it isolated? Have you looked them over carefully for possible injuries?

A coccidiostat will block thiamine, a very crucial vitamin for baby chicks. It would be wise not to treat unless you're reasonably certain they have coccidiosis. One way to find out is to gather some fresh poop and take it to a vet and request a fecal float test to confirm coccidia in their intestines. The test shouldn't be expensive and you should get results in an hour.